An Interview about Plastic Pollution

4 . The Canadian government announced a plan to ban single-use plastics as early as 2022. As someone who performs research on plastic pollution, I see this as a positive step forward. However, I wonder whether it will go far enough.

Some people may feel that this announcement is simply a “feel-good measure” and a distraction from bigger problems such as the climate disaster. The truth of the matter is that plastic pollution and the climate disaster are signs of the same disease. As much as 8% of global oil goes directly to plastic production—a figure that doesn’t include the transportation of single-use plastics to global markets, the energy used to transport plastics to landfills and the energy used to sort or recycle things.

In the past years, some bans have actually resulted in an increase in other forms of waste. For example, paper bags may be seen as a sustainable (可持续的) choice since, unlike plastics, paper breaks down in the environment. However, a paper bag has a carbon footprint three times that of a plastic bag and is still “single-use” just as much as a plastic bag is.

Adopting (采用) a science-based method, which the government has promised, will ensure the ways of using single-use plastics are more sustainable. I’m, however, concerned about the announcement because “as early as 2022” is very different from “by 2022”, which has a strict timeline. If we’re truly going to carry out an effective ban on single-use plastics, our government will need to spend a large amount of money on innovation (改革) and research into sustainable materials and our waste treatment system to prevent plastics from going into our oceans or landfills.

So the question remains: is this announcement simply smoke and mirrors, to hide a lack of determined action on both plastic waste and the climate disaster, or is this a real effort that will be carried out to stop the production of single-use plastics? We will have to wait and see.

6 . One of the biggest topics of the last decade, sustainability has become the beacon (灯塔) of hope to protect the planet. From supermarkets taking action on plastic packaging to the zero waste movement that can be practised from your kitchen, changes made by individuals and organizations across the globe has had an impact on the way we think, shop and live.

So what does that mean for the world of technology? You’d be forgiven for thinking that the words “sustainable” and “tech” don’t usually go hand in hand.E-waste is, after all, one of the planet’s biggest contributing waste streams. Not only that, but the materials that go into tech products are also part of the problem.

But with a challenge comes an opportunity, and there’s already some brilliant progress happening — great news for those of us wanting to be more sustainable with our tech. Firstly, renewed is having its moment. While consumers would previously turn their noses up at the idea of a second-hand device, there’s been a huge surge in demand for renewed tech. The second major step in tackling the problem of e-waste is a change in attitudes from owning a product to subscribing for one. A subscription for a smartphone might sound like a foreign concept, but it’s already gaining momentum. At the forefront of this movement is London-based tech startup Raylo, a pending B Corp which offers a subscription service for the latest iPhone. As customers aren’t paying to own the phone at the end of their contract, the monthly price is significantly lower than average.

Studies show that extending a phone’s lifespan from one to four years can decrease its environmental impact by about 40%.So the next time it comes to refreshing your device — whether a smartphone, laptop, tablet or something else-consider the more environmentally-friendly options that are at your fingertips.

7 . Several art projects are on show to warn people of the climate change happening around us.

Video on the walls

Photographer Camille Seaman has traveled to both the North Pole and the South Pole, where she has captured the disappearing ice in photographs and video. Camille Seaman made a video with some of her most powerful photos of melting ice for people in four coastal cities to display on their buildings. The video ends with a prediction that sea level will rise by 2050 without relative action.

Mural (壁画)changing color

Temperatures in Austin, Texas, are on the rise, and climate change will put the city at higher risk of extended drought, wildfires, intense rain and flooding. Artist Lope Gutiérrez-Ruiz designed a unique mural that changes color as it gets hotter. This art work calls for people to change the world and change climate change, underlining the importance of individual actions to the collective future.

Public billboard   (广告牌)

Artist Christine Sun Kim released a public billboard on the 710 Freeway called The Sound of Temperature Rising. It points to the reality of climate disaster that has become all too clear on the West Coast and the need for significant change now. The illustration features a graph (图表) of music notes that get progressively longer and redder.

Anti-Extinction Library

Globally, species are disappearing at an unheard-of rate. In response, architect Mitchell Joachim created The Anti-Extinction Library in New York. The sculptural piece is not only beautiful but also functional. Their unique egg-shaped library has a special freezer storing test tubes with the frozen cells and DNA of rare animals and plants. It’s important for people to realize we must quickly work to protect the rights of different species in our area.

8 . Imagine a world without insects. It might sound good at first without creepy-crawly bugs and annoying flies in your apartment. However, the consequences would be disastrous.

The number of insects has dropped by more than half in the past decades, according to British biologist Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse. As insects make up most of the known species on this planet, this data is not good news, The Guardian reported on July 25.

Insects are indeed on the path to extinction, according to the first global scientific review of insect population decline, which was published in the journal Biological Conservation in January 2019. The researchers say intensive agriculture has been the main cause of the decline. Pesticides, in particular, destroy insect habitats. Urbanization and climate change are also significant factors.

“Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades,” the researchers wrote in the review. “The repercussions (影响) this will have for the planet’s ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least.”

What would happen to Earth without insects? It’s almost impossible to predict, but the consequences would be far-reaching. We need insects to pollinate (授粉) crops, recycle plant and animal material, keep the soil healthy and much more. Without insects, many animals would have nothing to eat, and the predators of those animals would go hungry as well. The ecosystem would be thrown off balance.

“If insect species losses cannot be halted, this will have catastrophic consequences for both the planet’s ecosystems and for the survival of mankind,” said Francisco Sanchez-Bayo at the University of Sydney, Australia, one of the authors of the review.

The first step to halting this process is “to engender a society that values the natural world, both for what it does for us and for its own sake”, Goulson suggests. “The obvious place to start is with our children, encouraging environmental awareness from an early age.”